90 ANIMAL AFFECTION 



her nursery larder a store sufficient to supply the future exi- 

 gencies of its inmate, she, from time to time, carries thither a 

 living caterpillar, opening and reclosing the nest for her en- 

 trance and exit. 



The above are only a few instances, chosen from a multi- 

 tude, which display extraordinary degrees of ingenuity, in- 

 dustry, and sagacity, exerted, prospectively, by insect mothers 

 for the welfare of their progeny ; but from the very circum- 

 stance of their care being of this prospective nature, and dis- 

 played, for the most part, towards as yet inanimate objects, 

 we may not be disposed to view it, as with the larger animals, 

 and birds, in the light of an implanted affection, but look 

 upon it rather as a cold mechanical instinct, blindly followed 

 for an end of which the agent can have no perception. 



To a certain extent, this view may be no less applicable to 

 the maternal offices of the feathered race and quadrupeds 

 during the limited duration of their parental cares, tenderly 

 and beautifully as these are exercised; only, however, to tliix 

 certain degree, because, under circumstances of unusual excite- 

 ment, of danger or bereavement, the mothers of the brute 

 creation are accustomed to display signs of feeling, solicitude, 

 and suffering, quite distinct from, and over and above, that 

 measure of instinctive care requisite for the rearing of their off- 

 spring, and very much akin, at least in appearance, to that 

 surpassing love which warms the heart of a maternal parent of 

 the human race. 



